McAfee, LLC

McAfee, LLC at a Glance

Uppers

A career stop at the biggest name in virus protection will look good on any job hunter's résumé

Solid salaries and a strong benefits package

Strong work-life programs

Downers

Long hours and hectic days are the norm

Senior management can overlook contributions from even the hardest working employees

Promotions can be difficult to land

The Bottom Line

McAfee offers plenty of opportunities to a wide range of employees. However, long hours are the trade-off for excellent compensation packages.

About McAfee, LLC

For about 30 years, McAfee Inc. has guarded computers from
cyberattack. The company's security products offer threat
detection, protection, and response for devices from a PC sitting
on a desk at home to corporate networks to public, private, and
hybrid cloud environments. It offers security management, security
event and information management, and security analytics. McAfee
also manages data loss prevention, mobile security, host intrusion
prevention, encryption, and e-mail security. The company sells
directly and through resellers to corporations and consumers, as
well as to original equipment manufacturers. TPG Capital owns 51%
of McAfee and Intel Corp. owns the other 49%.

Change in Company Type

Intel in 2011 bought McAfee, then a publicly traded company, for
about $7.7 billion as part of an effort to assemble a cyber
security business inside Intel. In 2016 the company sold 51% of
McAfee to TPG Capital, a private equity firm, for about $3.1
billion and a commitment from TPG to invest about $1.1 billion in
McAfree. Intel retained 49% of McAfee while TPG sold part of its
share to Thoma Bravo, another private equity firm. TPG's portfolio
also includes security companies Tanium and Zscaler.

Operations

McAfee's products span the detection and protection spectrum
from PC systems and mobile devices for consumers to
enterprise-grade network security offerings and the Internet of
Things. The products offer data protection and encryption, database
security, endpoint protection, network security, and web security.
The company claims that its security offerings cover some 490
million endpoints, which include smart phones, computers, servers,
and tablets.

The company also provides consulting on security and deploying
McAfee products. McAfee Labs conducts research on threats around
the world and issues regular reports on the types and numbers of
incidents.

Sales and Marketing

McAfee's products are sold directly to consumers and enterprises
as well as through its network of strategic partners and resellers
such as Dell, Lenovo, and Adobe. Trial versions of McAfee's
consumer software often comes pre-installed on PCs manufactured by
partners or bundled with other third-party software products.
McAfee sells through retailers such as Best Buy, Fry's, and
Amazon.com.

McAfee has a wide range of customers, which include more than
half of the Fortune 500 firms. It also has public sector customers
such as government agencies and educational institutions.

Financial Performance

McAfee, a private company, has not reported financial results
since it was spun off as a standalone company. But the latest
available figures, from Intel's 2016 annual report, show that
McAfee had revenue of about $2.2 billion in 2016, up from about
$1.9 billion in 2015 and $2 billion in 2014. Operating income was
$400 million for 2016, $213 million for 2015, and $164 million for
2014.

Strategy

As an independent company, McAfee is free to chart its own
course. The company has a long history of security expertise to
call on, as well as a large database of threat intelligence to help
guide it as the company develops new products and services. It has
some 1,200 security technology patents. Under TPG McAfee has said
it will apply greater market focus, build its platform, and make
financial, operational, and technology investments to offer
effective products.

Investments include research and development to add analytics,
data science, and deep learning to provide better information to
customers.

With the severity and frequency of cyberattacks rising, the
cyber security business is booming. McAfee faces a lineup of rivals
that include security focused companies like Symantec, F5, Check
Point Technologies, Forcepoint, Trend Micro, FireEye, and Fortinet.
Other competitors are bigger companies that offer security as part
of their other products. Those companies include Cisco Systems,
IBM, Dell Technologies, and Microsoft.

Mergers and Acquisitions

McAfee uses acquisitions to expand its product line, adding new
technologies and capabilities that address the increasingly complex
security threats that networks and computers face.

In 2018 the company bought TunnelBear, a Canadian firm that
provides public VPN services meant to protect data and add
extra security for consumers connecting to public Wi-Fi
networks.

The previous year it purchased Skyhigh Networks, which develops
security applications for cloud computing. Skyhigh's cloud access
security broker (CASB) offerings strengthen McAfee's security
portfolio. The price of the deal was not disclosed.